That Smile
by writingisfreedom
Summary: We all know that Logan and Veronica's story is epic, but what about Mac and Dick's? Four years after the end of season three, Mac, Dick and the rest of the gang are confronted with another mystery. MaDi centric.
1. Promise

Hi guys, here's the first chapter of what I hope will be a long story! I know the summary on the main page wasn't very good, so here's a better one:

Summary - Four years after the end of season three, everyone has graduated from Hearst and have started their own careers. Mac, a website-developer who has her own company, is good friends with Dick, but both of their lives are thrown for a loop when one of Veronica's cases begins to influence their everyday lives. We all know that Veronica and Logan's story was epic, so why can't Mac and Dick's be? Will eventually be MaDi and LoVe.

Disclaimer - I don't own any of the character or places discussed here. This is Rob Thomases' sandbox, I just play in it.

There were many times in Mac's life that she wished she could press a pause button and hold it forever. There were also many moments that she wished she had a skip button. Her current situation fell more into the later category. A year after her graduation from Hearst she had a good job working with local businesses to help set up secure, fast-working websites. The problem with her job was the amount of time it forced her to spend around people she used to hate passionately. People like Madison Sinclair, who was currently looking at her with disgust as they both waited for a certain Mr. Hodges to get back from lunch. Of course, Mac was there to fix computers, she really didn't want to know what Madison, the town slut, was there for.

"You know, I'm sure Caleb can afford a real computer person. How did you convince him to let you have the job?" Mac looked over at the sound of the annoying voice to see Madison sneering at her.

"Probably not the same way that has you in his office at this moment. Seriously Madison, hasn't anyone told you that being a walking STD ad isn't a good thing?"

The girl whom with Mac shared a strange connection with got up and walked over to her, obviously upset. "What did you say?"

Just as Mac was about to open her mouth to answer a loud cough from the doorway interrupted her. "Now, now ladies."

Mr. Hodges walked straight through to his office. He was one of those middle-aged business men that didn't look as old as he was. They say the best way to stay young is to be with someone way too young for you. He turned back at the last second and shot both girls a smile. "Ms. Mackenzie, I'm glad you could make it. This shouldn't take much of your time. Madison, a moment please."

He gestured for Mac to enter, and she didn't miss the look that passed between Madison and him, or the subtle difference in the way he used her first name instead of last. Seriously, if you're going to sleep with a women 20 years your junior at least be subtle about it! Mac followed him in quietly, eager to get this meeting over with. The best part about her job was that other then the initial meeting to discuss what the website would involve, there was very little contact she had to have with her client. At most, three meetings in the entire course of the project. Of course, three meetings with every businessman she made a website for added up, but at least she wouldn't be spending too much time in this particular man's company.

"You come very highly advertised Ms. Mackenzie. My friend Mr. Casablancas says that the website you made for him has increased clientele tremendously."

Mac grinned internally at the mention of Dick. 4 years after they finally got their shit together and talked through their differences, and 5 years after Cassidy, they were what you could consider good friends. He was her biggest reference in the business world. During his second year at Hearst, with the encouragement of her and Logan he'd reformed his act. He graduated along with them with a B.A in Business Management, and immediately went about fixing his father's company. In under a year he'd made it more successful then it had ever been. Another point and case study in how people can change from high school. Dick had never been the person anyone would have chosen for the superlative 'most successful'.

Pulling her attention back to her current meeting Mac smiled at the businessman across the desk from her. "A good website is a driving mechanism in the business world today Mr. Hodges."

"Well said!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "With that stated let's get down to business shall we?"

An hour later Mac left the office with a relieved smile. One more annoying meeting out of the way. Now she could back to the part of this job she actually liked.

MaDiMaDi--

When Mac arrived at her apartment that evening she didn't expect to see Veronica waiting there for her. Ever since her break up with Piz, the FBI internship after their Freshman year, and the return of Mr. Mars as Sherriff, Veronica had seemed, well, almost happy. She'd even gotten to the friends stage again with Logan. Mac figured they were a few months from the whole dating thing again. She hoped they'd get it right this time. All their break ups were serious headache material. But none of that explained what she was doing there.

"Mac!" Veronica cried when she saw her. The grin on her face made Mac groan. It was her I-have-a-favor-to-ask-that-might-be-dangerous face. Even though she was heading to the FBI academy in 6 months (the break had come after Mr. Mars was shot in the shoulder and Veronica decided to stay with him this year instead of leaving right away), she couldn't give up the vigilante lifestyle. Mac was beginning to think it was more of a compulsion then anything.

Mac opened the door and let them both inside before heading to start the coffee. Judging by the look on Veronica's face they were both going to need it. "What's up Veronica? Need me to hack into a secret governmental organizations database and extract all their files on aliens?"

Even without looking at her she could tell Veronica was grinning. "Nope Mac-attack. Not a secret organization, just the actual government. CIA to be exact."

Mac paused for a moment. For once she wasn't sure whether or not Veronica was serious. They'd done crazier things before. Like the time last year when she'd hacked into the Department of Homeland Security to get some info on a potential terrorist. This would really only be one step up. Veronica must of seen her pause because she started laughing .

"Relax, I'm just kidding. Actually all I need you to do is break onto one guys laptop. He's not at all related to the government. In fact, I'm not sure if he even owns a gun."

"Someone cheating on the wife again?"

Grinning as she grabbed a couple of coffee mugs, she was over enough to know where everything was, Veronica answered. "Actually yes. Ever since I took over Mars, P.I. it's been nothing but cheating husbands and possible fraud. I kind of miss our life of big mysteries and excitement."

"I don't. I've spent way too much time already in the Sheriff's office." Mac poured them both some coffee and they sat down at the table. "Okay, it'll be a quick job, all I need is a name and address."

"You're the best Mac. Okay, it's Caleb Hodges…"

Before she could continue with the address Mac stopped her. "I'm working on a website for him right now, he's cheating all right. If you want proof just keep tabs on Madison Sinclair."

"Of all the people in the world he had to cheat with the one I would love to nail to the wall." Veronica smiled the feral grin that shot fear into practically every male in her life. "Easy enough. Guess computer work won't be necessary."

They continued sitting there in comfortable silence. The last three years had made their friendship even closer then it'd been before. Mac considered Veronica her best girl friend. Dick would have to be her other best friend, and Veronica also had Wallace. Though he'd been in Uganda for several months already helping run a new project there to teach basic mechanical engineering to the nearby cities. The program he'd gone on after their freshman year had changed the course of his life forever. Not only did it give him a job, but it introduced him to his wife, Sidney, who was also working in Uganda. Through it all though, he'd been part of the inseparable group that included Mac, Veronica, Dick, Logan, and Parker, who unlike Piz had managed to stay a part of their lives.

As she made small talk with Veronica to catch up on the last week, Mac thought about how each of them had ended up in a place they hadn't completely expected. Veronica heading off to the FBI, but not right away, Dick running his own business, Wallace in Uganda, and Logan had started his own non-profit organization to help children who had abusive parents. And Mac, running her own computer business while having a solid group of friends around her, complete with Dick Casablancas. Life really threw some curveballs.

After a while a knock came at the door. Mac got up to answer it, though she was fairly sure she knew who it was. When the door opened to reveal Dick her suspicions were confirmed. He came over several evenings a week, usually bringing dinner, just to hang out with Mac. They usually talked and had a Halo marathon, a tradition that always included their favorite death by chocolate ice cream. Which Dick swore the government actually used to kill people. No matter how much he grew up some things about him would never change.

"Hey Mac-attack." He greeted her, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "I brought your favorite."

He held up a bag of food from the nearby china restaurant.

"Have I mentioned that you're my hero?" She said grabbing the bag out of his hands.

"Not in the last 24 hours."

Veronica came into the hallway to see who it was and smiled at Dick. They'd let go of their grudges a few years back. Though Dick was still scared shitless of Veronica, even if he wouldn't admit it. "Hey Dick."

"What's up Veronica? Still kicking ass and taking names?"

Mac grinned at Veronica's raised eyebrows. "Why, volunteering?"

The former surfer raised his hands in defense. "I know better then to mess with you."

"Good. Now come in, Mac was just telling me about her meeting with a certain Mr. Hodges this afternoon."

Dick came in and they all settled down at the table for a quiet evening.

MaDiMaDi--

Later that night, after Veronica had gone to stake out Madison's house, Mac turned to Dick who was sitting next to her on the couch. "So how have you been Dick? A little birdy told me that business is getting good."

"That it is." He grinned at her before gaining a more serious expression. "But there have been a few complaints in the company about the lack of socials. Apparently the employees want a Christmas Social, complete with decorations, music, and dancing."

Mac laughed at the terrified look on his face. The prospect of spending hours talking to other business men on the phone didn't scare him, but spending one evening socializing did. She understood though, without him having to say it, that the part that scared him was the return to his childhood. Even though he ran a business in Neptune just like his father did, that was where the comparison ended. He gave up a big mansion in the 09er district for a small beachside home where he could surf. And he avoided all the social mixers and other parts of the old life as much as possible. A Christmas party was something his father would have loved, and was bound to be filled with the same amount of drama that every 09er event had. Someone would be sleeping with someone else's wife, and another set of children would end up in a messed up household. Mac moved so that her arm was around Dick's shoulder.

"How about this. You go ahead and schedule that Christmas party, but invite Veronica, Logan, and Parker too. Then you can spend part of it schmoozing and the rest of it with us."

Dick laughed at her. "I like how you automatically assume you have an invitation."

"Who else is going to go as your date Richard Casablancas Jr.? At least, who else that can participate in intelligent conversation."

She's attended most of the parties he'd been forced to go to as his date, mostly so they could mock the lifestyle she'd almost had, and he'd finally escaped. Veronica swore they were one step away from marriage, but it just felt comfortable to Mac. There were no ulterior motives, just two people enjoying one another's company. She knew how she felt about Dick - he was her second best friend in the entire world. And in some ways the level of intimacy and trust she had with Dick was beyond what she had with Veronica. They'd gotten over Cassidy's death and conviction as a psychotic killer together, and he understood some things about her without words needing to be spoken. Like how after a long, bad day all she needed was some ice cream and Halo, and she knew the same things about him. Like that what he needed right now was a promise that she wouldn't let him go through anything alone.

As she was thinking about that Dick had wrapped his arm around her waist, and at that moment he proceeded to tickle attack her. She laughed hysterically, throwing her weight away from him towards the other side of the couch.

"No. Fair!" she choked out as she escaped. "I attempt to help and this is the thanks I get?"

His further attempts to attack her were evaded as she jumped off the couch and ran towards the kitchen, still laughing. No matter how many tickle fights they had Mac still found them incredibly fun.

She heard the hard stomping that indicated Dick behind her, and ducked behind the table in the kitchen just as he entered. She could hear his quiet chuckle as he approached her, thinking that he had her cornered. But as he reached around the table to finish tickling her he received a quick jab in the stomach as she stabbed him with a nearby pencil.

"Ow!" He cried. "No fair Mackie!"

She darted out from her hiding place sticking her tongue out at him. "All's fair in war my friend. Don't be a sore loser."

"We'll see who's a sore loser after I beat you in Timesplitters."

"Is that a challenge?" Mac struggled to keep the laughter out of her voice. It was just so hard with him, almost everything he did made her want to laugh. It was part of the reason they became friends.

Dick smiled at her, a smile completely different from the sneers he'd directed at her in high school. This smile was gentler, the kind that came from someone who was at peace with themselves, not someone who had something to prove. It was the smile he'd developed years ago after he and Mac had managed to deal with everything involving Cassidy and his father, when they finally accepted what had happened and managed to move on. It was the smile of Dick Casablancas her friend, instead of Dick Casablancas, royal jackass. It was the smile that made her willing to do anything for the man standing in front of her.

"That was more then a challenge, that was a promise."

And with those words Mac remembered the promise she'd made to herself a long time ago. The promise to keep that smile on his face, because it was what made their mostly incredibly screwed up lives worth living.

More on the mystery in the next chapter. Remember, reviews are good stuff!!


	2. Attack

Okay guys, here is where the mystery starts. I apologize if this chapter is overly emotional, but it had to be done. Don't forget to hit the review button at the bottem!!

* * *

Mac was in the middle of a nice dream when Dick woke her up. She'd been the owner of Apple, and was releasing the newest laptop that could break a password code in less then a minute. Two of her deepest desires in one dream. The look on Dick's face when she opened her eyes though, told her reality wasn't going to be nearly as perfect as dreamland.

She sat up quickly. "Dick? What's wrong?" It was odd for him to be up earlier then her.

"Logan just called." He explained as he dragged her out of bed and towards the living room. "He said to turn on the TV. You should see this too."

They sat down on the couch and Dick flipped to the local news station. Mac's eyes grew wider as she looked at the screen. It showed the police station, or what used to be the police station, now a pile of rubble and fire on the corner of the street. A reporter discussed the destruction, apparently the result of an explosion that had gone off in the station about three hours ago. There were 10 suspected deaths, including those of Deputy Sacks, Deputy Leo, and the kind Secretary Inga. Mac leaned against Dick heavily. The only luck they had was that Sheriff Mars had been on call at another location at the time.

"Sacks. Leo. Inga. Dead." She mumbled. Neptune had a way of being the death of good people.

Dick slid his arm around her and pulled her into his chest. She sat there for a minute, letting him see her softer side as she silently shed tears into his shirt. She could tell his jaw was working silently, a habit he had when he was trying hard not to cry. The deaths of so many people all of a sudden was hitting both of them hard. Suddenly Mac sat up straight.

"We have to call Veronica."

Mac felt Dicks arms reluctantly drop from around her, and she offered him a stoic smile. She would be there for him in a few minutes, but first she had to make sure her other best friend was okay. The one who was more affected by the situation. When she found her phone she hit the speed dial for Veronica's cell, and waited impatiently for her to answer.

"Yes?" Veronica sounded more broken then Mac had heard in a long time.

"Who is it Ronnie?" She heard in the background. Good, Logan was there already.

"Veronica it's Mac. I saw the news."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "They're all dead Mac."

"I know V." Mac searched for something comforting to say. "Whoever did this, we're not going to let them get away with it."

That seemed to do the trick, because when Veronica answered her voice was stronger then before. "Damn straight we're not. I'm going to head down to the station and start asking some questions."

"Veronica." Mac said quickly to slow down her friend. "I said we're going to catch them, I didn't mean right this second. It's okay to grieve a little."

"Who are you, Dr. Phil?" They reverted to the sarcastic humor they always used in situations like this. The fact that they had encountered enough similar situations gave Mac a pause, but she answered strongly.

"Hell no, he's ugly, just call me Dr. Mac."

The little laugh that comment got from Veronica was worth it. She knew that Logan would handle the rest. "Hey, let me speak to Logan for a second."

"Plotting against me?"

"Always."

A slight pause indicated the transfer of the phone over to Logan. His voice was stronger then V's, but the edge indicated that he was torn up too. "What's up Mac-attack?"

"Don't let her go after this case right away."

Logan's answer didn't surprise her. "I don't want her going after this case at all." Apparently he'd moved away from Veronica because she didn't hear anyone yelling in the background.

"You and I both know that isn't going to happen. For now just help her get over this. Dick and I will be over in a while. And Logan?" She said right before he was about to hang up.

"Yeah?"

Mac sighed, "Don't go ordering her not to do anything and get her pissed off."

"I'll do my best."

The click of the phone shutting off made Mac sigh again. There, she'd made sure Veronica was okay. But Mac wasn't sure if she herself was. Though she didn't know the people at the station as well as her best friend did, she still spent quite a bit of time over there during the last couple of years. Not only did she have weekly lunches with Veronica and the Sheriff, but some of the deputies sometimes asked for her help solving cases that involved breaking into complicated computer systems. Deputy Leo especially. That man really did not know his way around a computer. That thought caused her to tear up. He wouldn't be asking for her help anymore.

She headed back into the living room slowly, and saw Dick sitting on the couch. He was leaning forward towards the television, and his face held more sadness and determination on it then she'd seen in a long time. Dick also knew the men at the station fairly well, he'd gone out drinking with several of them occasionally since they helped him catch a fraudulent employee a while back. Sacks was his personal favorite. It turns out Sheriff Mars' second in command was also a first class drinking game expert. Because of that connection Mac knew he wasn't going to let this rest. One of the traits Mac respected most about Dick was his loyalty, she knew that he would do anything in his power to help Veronica and Sheriff Mars catch the bastards who did this.

Sitting down next to him, Mac began to rub his shoulders soothingly. "It's going to be okay."

"I don't know." The sound of Dick's voice broke Mac's heart. It was filled with more pain then she'd heard since they first talked about Cassidy's death. "This shit keeps happening you know? It just seems that sooner or later our luck has to run out. Sooner or later Ronnie isn't going to be able to catch the bad guy. Maybe even one of us will end up dead. I can't handle that Mac, I just can't…" His face crumbled.

Mac reached up and pulled him into her arms letting his head resting on her chest. "Shh, Dick. It's going to be okay. Everyone is going to be okay. I promise you that okay? From me to you, from Ghostworld to Surfer boy, I promise that everything is going to turn out okay."

She wasn't sure that everything she was saying was true, but it would cost too much to believe otherwise. If she let herself believe that things were going to end badly then she wouldn't have the energy to fight against it. So she fortified herself with thoughts of her friends, of Dick and Veronica and how much they needed her and she needed them. It was because of that connection that she would make sure everything turned out okay. Silently she stroked Dick's hair, letting him cry into her shirt. That was one reason she cared so deeply about Dick, he let himself feel things. Really feel them. Feel them enough to cry about them even when he generally said crying was the first sign of being a pussy.

After a few minutes his tears started slowing down, and she felt him push himself into sitting up position. He smiled tightly down at her and gave her a quick hug.

"Thank you." He said simply.

A few years ago she never would have believed that Dick Casablancas was capable of such emotions, and she certainly never would have believed that he'd let her comfort him, this softer side of Dick was a new development. Personally she believed that he'd hidden it under all the layers of jackass he wore until their sophomore year of college. Now she'd seen that side of him several times, and every time she did all she wanted to do was take care of him. Anyone who said Mac Mackenzie didn't have a heart should really see her now.

She smiled softly back at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I know, we don't mention this to anyone. Wouldn't want your manly reputation to be ruined. Bad for business."

Dick laughed. The laugh made her feel better, as long as she could still make him laugh it really was going to be okay. "You sure know how to cheer a guy up Ghostworld. Come on, let's go rescue Ronnie from Logan's over protectiveness."

* * *

"I don't care what your opinion is Logan, it really has no bearing here!"

Mac winced slightly as the approached Veronica's apartment and heard the yelling. Apparently Logan had decided not to take her advice. The idiot sometimes had a death wish when it came to his ex-girlfriend. He really didn't have a healthy enough dose of fear of the tiny blonde. She shot a glance at Dick out of the corner of her eye, and to her surprise he had a grin on his face.

"Sounds like my boy is about to get back together with Ronnie."

She laughed at that. Sometimes Dick was still the same guy he'd been in High School. Minus the jackass part. Potentially awkward and tense situations had the annoying habit of not affecting him at all. If they could bottle that trait and sell it they would be millionaires. Well, she would be a millionaire and Dick would be more of a millionaire then he already was.

Dick reached up and knocked on the door. "Yo, Logan dude, stop flirting with Veronica and open the door!"

A second later the yelling stopped and Logan appeared at the door. He glared at Dick as he opened it. "Hi Mac, hi jackass."

Dick just smiled at him. "Is that anyway to greet your best friend?"

They all went inside, and Mac shook her head silently at Dick. He knew when to revert back to the fun loving guy he used to be, and his carefree attitude helped lighten the tense situation. Even though Mac knew it was only an act now instead of his actual personality like it used to be, she was glad he was using it, she could see the tension in Logan's shoulders fade a little as he argued with his best friend. They all entered the living room, where Veronica stood with her arms crossed, a sure sign that at any second all hell was going to break loose.

"Ronnie!" Dick exclaimed. "It's nice to see you don't have a taser on you. Wouldn't want Logan to end up dead or anything."

The deceptively small girl glared at Dick as he threw an arm around her shoulders. "Don't make me go get it and use it on you Dick."

Mac walked up to avoid a potentially dangerous situation. She glanced at Dick to let him know that she appreciated his efforts, and that she'd take over from there. "Okay guys, why don't I make us some coffee. Or how about a full breakfast, I know Dick and I haven't eaten anything."

The other three individuals in the room sat down at the kitchen table as she moved around the kitchen easily. Several years of fending for herself, and Dick for the most part, had turned her into a decent cook. She couldn't do anything fancy, but coffee and pancakes she could handle. At the table, Logan and Veronica sat tensely, and Dick was taking it upon himself to amuse the group by launching into a story about an idiotic business associate. Though she could tell neither of the other two really cared about his story, it at least kept the room from being silent.

When the pancakes were done she sat the stack in front of them and started pouring coffee. "Dick? Do you mind setting the table?"

His story had finished a few minutes ago, and she could tell he certainly didn't mind having something to do. She would deal with Logan's cracks about how she'd domesticated Dick later. For now she concentrated on distributing food so they would all have something to think about besides the police station situation. Of course, right as she thought that Veronica started talking.

"I'm going to head down to the station after we eat."

Logan looked up at her quickly, but Mac cut him off before he could say anything. "Are you sure that's such a good idea V? They're trying to clean up, you could be in the way."

"I'm tiny." Veronica answered, "The only way I could get in anyone's way is if I tried. Which I won't. I just want to get a feel for the situation."

"I'm going with you." Logan said suddenly.

Veronica's only answer was to shrug her shoulders. That was a lot better then Mac could have hoped for. At least she didn't start yelling again.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" The other girl sounded surprised.

Dick interjected before Mac could. "You don't honestly think we'd let you do this alone do you?"

Obviously caught off guard Veronica looked back and forth between the other three people at the table. Then her face softened into a small smile. "No I guess you guys wouldn't."

MaDiMaDiMaDiMaDi

It turned out the first steps in their investigation were simple. Veronica headed to the crime scene with Logan to find out what the police knew. How she was going to manage that nobody knew, or really wanted to know for that matter, but they were sure she'd do it. She assigned Mac to searching the web for any clues, and even actually gave Dick a job. He was going to talk to his business contacts and see if any of them knew anything.

So far the internet search had only yielded articles explaining the tragedy. Even CNN had done a little spot on it, calling it an attack on the modern justice system. Seriously, the people who wrote those articles needed to get lives. Mac read over the list of suspected victims sadly, recognizing many of the names. Like the bus crash tragedy of so many years ago this one had caught the heart of Neptune. One article reported that as early as tonight there would be a candle lighting ceremony at the remains of the station. Mac only hoped that this time she didn't know who was responsible. Beside her Dick was talking away on the phone with his good friend from college and business partner Joshua Samuels. Mac had met the man many times both in college and since; he was a sometimes contender in their Halo contests. He was also a kind hearted man with a wife and child on the way, who repeatedly told Dick he needed to settle down. She liked his influence on Dick. Around Josh he seemed much more mature then usual, maybe because Josh hadn't known Dick in his asshole days, the pair had met in their Sophomore year of college.

"Okay. Yeah, talk to you later man." Mac turned around when she heard Dick end his phone call.

"Any luck?"

Dick settled down next to her and shook his head sadly. "A police station doesn't really effect stocks or sales, so most of the business world isn't even really aware of it. I'll be surprised if any of them are even really upset."

A frustrated sigh escaped Mac, and she turned to lean her head against the table. They hadn't discovered anything useful in the hours they'd been searching. Of course, finding clues this early after the accident would have been a miracle, but she'd hoped anyways. She looked up as Dick began massaging her shoulders.

"Don't worry Mac-attack. We'll find something."

They shared this roll reversal many times. One of them would get the other out of a tough spot, only to need the same comfort later. It touched her that Dick knew exactly what to say at the right time. She really didn't know what she would do without him.

With that thought she reached up and gripped his hand in a panic, turning to look him straight in the eye. "Don't ever leave me okay? Dying is not an option."

Dick lost his smile as he looked down at her face. This was as serious as she ever got, and all she needed in that moment was an assurance that she wouldn't ever have to face life without him. A million scenarios ran through her head. Some involved Dick leaving, or forgetting about her, or, god forbid, getting killed. That was one thing she knew would break her. More then Cassidy's death or anything that had happened since she knew that if he died she wouldn't be able to take it. Swallowing deeply Dick leaned down until his forehead rested against Mac's.

"I promise." His voice came out hoarse. "I promise that I'll never leave you of my own free will, and I'll fight like hell to make sure I don't leave you any other way."

Mac nodded and closed her eyes, trying to make the images stop flowing. The tragedy at the Police station had shaken up all the thoughts she'd thought were gone. As tears began to flow she felt Dick's hand reach under her chin and tilt her face up to look at him. Reluctantly she opened her eyes and stared into his baby blue ones.

"I need you to promise the same thing. I don't think I can do this whole living thing without you."

Words failed to come to her for a moment, so she nodded her head. Finally she managed to choke out, "I promise."

They stayed like that for one long, meaningful moment. Mac stared into his eyes and knew that this was the moment when everything changed. Right in that moment was when she realized that living without Dick was not an option. That moment was when she realized she was in love with Dick Casablancas.

It figured that it took ten people dying to make her realize it.

* * *

So there it is guys, please let me know what you think!! Another update should be up as soon as tomorrow, though if my classes go long I can't make any promises.


	3. Matters of Blood and Connection

Okay guys, here's chapter three. I'm kind of proud of this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer - As always, this wonderful world that I dance in once in a while belongs to Rob Thomas

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It was early morning when Logan showed up at Veronica's house, several days after the 'Police Station Tragedy' as the news was calling it. Tragedy her ass, tragedy implied that it was an accident or natural disaster. Someone had been responsible for this explosion, and Veronica was going to find them. Then she was going to make their life hell.

Logan on the other hand seemed intent on making her forget about the incident. Today he walked in with a smile on his face and a surfboard under his arm. So the distraction of the day would be surfing.

"Okay V, I figure it's about time we hit the beach." Veronica knew the man standing in front of her extremely well. That grin on his face was forced, and there was no twinkle in his eye like there would be if he actually wanted to go surfing. No, his primary purpose in this surfing endeavor would be to keep her as far away from anything involving the explosion as possible. Yesterday he'd used researching apartments as an excuse. Sooner or later he was going to run out of ideas.

Reluctantly Veronica let him into her small apartment. She'd moved out of her Dad's place right after graduation, in favor of the small apartment above Mars Investigations. It was a lot smaller then even Mac's place, but it worked well enough for her. And it was only temporary, in a year she'd be across the country.

"I'm not going surfing Logan."

Logan didn't lose his grin for a second, though she saw his eyes tighten around the edges. Her refusal to give up the case was obviously frustrating him. "You don't have to surf, but you do have to go to the beach. Come on, we're meeting Mac and Dick there."

That threw her off. Mac and Dick were on her side with the whole case thing. They wanted to track down the bastards responsible just as much as she did. Whey the hell were they plotting with Logan to get her to the beach? Unless Logan had planned this whole thing without their consent, and was going to call them when they got to the beach saying she'd agreed to go. She really had to work on that whole trust thing. "One condition."

"What?"

Veronica felt herself start to grin. "You supply the alcohol."

If the expression on his face was any indication, she'd completely thrown him for a loop. Usually Logan was the advocate for alcohol, and Veronica was the one telling him that only alcoholics drink before evening. The comment came as a bit of surprise to Veronica herself, but they'd all had a tough week, and there was no better way to get rid of tension. Plus, Dick always did something stupid when he was drunk, and she really could use the humor.

Before she had an opportunity to think about it anymore Logan spoke up, and when she looked at him she saw a real grin on his face for the first time that week. "Sounds like a deal."

* * *

"Remind me why we're going to the beach again?"

Mac grinned at him, amused. "Dick Casablancas that has to be the first time I've ever heard you complain about going to the beach."

"You know it's not the beach I'm complaining about." He watched the road in front of him before taking the last turn out to the beach front. "It's an angry Veronica I'm not awake enough to deal with."

The fact that he was so scared of their tiny friend never failed to amuse her. Then again, she really didn't know anyone who wasn't at least wary of Veronica Mars, her reputation as a badass was well deserved. "How about this. You surf with Logan and I'll take care of Veronica."

That idea seemed to placate him as he parked the jeep. Mac wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with a pissed of Veronica either, but it was better that she did it then Logan or Dick try and make things worse. Plus, Mac needed some time alone with her best friend to discuss both the case and this new development with Dick. The new development that had caused her to blush when he made a joke about her hair this morning. Sometimes she hated being a girl, not only were they the ones that had to deal with pregnancy and taking care of the kids, but girls blushed ten times as much as guys.

Her current plan of action, which she stuck to obsessively as Dick got their surfboards down from the top of the jeep, was just to avoid touching him in any way. Or being too close to him. And she was definitely avoiding staring into his beautiful eyes. Or thinking about them. Damn it!

Dick and Mac, sitting in a tree a voice in her head sung that sounded suspiciously like both Logan and her younger brother.

"Mac-attack?" Dick's voice yanked her out of her internal screaming match.

She looked up at him guiltily. He had both the surfboards in his arms and was trying to pick up the cooler at the same time. Waving him off she grabbed the color and blanket and led him towards their spot on the beach. They'd been here many, many times over the last few years. Logan and Veronica weren't there yet, so Mac set up the camp and stripped down to her bathing suit. Maybe she could get a couple of waves in before the need for her mediating services began.

Dick laughed at her as she grabbed the surfboard and hurried out to the waves. He'd taught her how to surf shortly after they'd dealt with everything involving Cassidy. He was convinced it was the most therapeutic thing in the world, and she'd decided to give it a try. Surprisingly enough she'd loved it. Last year for Christmas Dick had given her a board that he'd had customized for her. It was black and blue with the word 'ghostworld' on the bottom. She loved it, it was a reminder of how far they'd come.

The waves were perfect that morning, and the ocean was an amazing shade of blue. Other then the cyber world this was by far the closest thing to heaven she could imagine. To her left Dick was already tearing up a wave on his board, laughing his carefree laugh as he went. She smiled sadly. His laugh reminded her that even though they could have this one second of perfection, sooner or later they had to return to reality. At the moment, reality was a dark place. For that second though, she waited on a wave, then jumped on her board and let it take her away.

Screw reality.

She didn't know how long it was before she heard Logan's voice calling to them from shore. They'd both been so caught up in the moment that time had seemed to drift away.

Dick paddled over to her slowly. "Ready to go deal with the beast?"

"She's not a beast." Mac hit him on the shoulder lightly. So much for not touching him.

"You only say that because she never takes her anger out on you."

It didn't take them long to get back to the shore and the little camp Mac had set up. Logan's board was there now too, and so was an extra cooler. Mac felt her eyebrows raise. Somehow she had the distinct feeling she knew what the content of that extra cooler was.

"Dude, I told you I'd bring the drinks." Dick stopped talking when he opened the lid and saw the stack of Budweiser, and some stronger stuff, he'd uncovered. "Never mind."

Logan held up his hands before Mac could tear him a good one, "I swear it wasn't my idea. If you have a problem with it take it up with the tiny blonde one over there."

With disbelief Mac turned towards her best friend. "Wait. You advocated the drinking first thing in the morning?" The world must be coming to an end.

"I think we all need the distraction." Veronica said, reaching in the cooler and grabbing out a beer. "It's been a long week."

"Yeah, and if Veronica Mars is going to become Neptune's newest alcoholic then next week is going to be even longer."

"Come on Mackie," Dick said good-naturedly, a beer already in his grasp. "When's the last time all of us just let loose?"

Sighing Mac reached in and grabbed out one of the Bud Lights. "Fine, but you know I prefer Smirnoff."

* * *

Several hours, and many beers later, the group was laying on the beach laughing hysterically about a story Dick was telling. To be honest, Veronica really couldn't tell whether or not Dick's story was actually funny, but she was too tipsy to care. At this point even a dumb Sheriff Lamb joke would be funny.

"And then the guy said 'Dude, I think I lost my shorts'!" Dick finished off with a loud laugh. Veronica shook her head sadly after they'd finished cracking up. Three years after the fact Dick still told stupid stories from his Pi Sig days.

Somewhere around them Veronica heard some music, but she shrugged it off and took another drink of her beer. She couldn't really remember what number she was on. Her third had been a while ago, so…who knew at that point. If anyone really needed to leave any time soon they were screwed. There was no way any of them were safe to drive. Even Mac was tipsy; at that particular moment she was leaning up against Dick, waving her arms around in a failed attempt to explain to him about some computer thing.

"Veronica?"

She looked up at the man next to her. "Yes Logan?"

"I think that's your phone going off."

She paused, listening for another second. "Oh!"

Cell phones as a rule are insanely hard to find, especially when you're a few drinks down the line. It took her a minute to dig in her bag and find it. When she had she lifted it to her ear and slurred, "Hello?"

The voice on the other end of the line didn't sound amused. "V? Are you drunk?"

"No _Eli_, I am not drunk. I'm tipsy. There's a difference. Now what do you want?"

"Wow, drunk and grumpy. Echolls really must not be very good at his job."

"Logan has no job." Veronica stated dryly, prompting Logan to look over at her.

"Besides the point." Weevil's voice became serious. "Look V I have a clue about the Station."

That caught Veronica's attention. Ever since his short stint as her father's assistant, Weevil had helped them put clues together several times for cases. He was a smart guy, and plugged into the criminal underground. His involvement was dangerous though. Most of the business at the garage he owned, one he'd bought with all his savings after his parole was over, came from PCH bike gangs and other equally seedy characters. If they ever found out that the tough ex-gang leader who ran the garage also helped some of them get arrested, he could end up dead.

"What did you find?" Maybe his clue could help them finally get started on this case.

"One of the bikers was bragging about a cell phone he got from an Irish guy in a gambling game at the River Stix. It belonged to Leo D'Amato. I know he had it the night the Station blew up. I had to call him about a lead on a case he asked me about."

Veronica was sitting up completely straight at this point, any affects from the alcohol wearing off quickly because of the shock. A guy connected to the Fitzpatrick's had Leo's phone after the explosion. It may not be enough evidence to arrest anyone, but it was a step in the right direction. She felt her nerves light up. After a week of searching they finally had something.

"Do you have it with you?"

On the other end of the line Weevil chuckled. "Yeah, I managed to convince the guy that he was better off giving it to me."

"Are you at your garage? I'm on my way."

"Hell no V. The way you sound you'd be an endangerment on the road. You know it's poor guys like me that have to clean up those crashes. Just tell me where you are and I'll be over there in a few minutes."

She told him, and then hung up. Logan, Mac, and Dick were all looking at her expectantly. "Weevil found Leo's cell with one of the bikers. He got it from a Fitzpatrick."

Beside her Logan cursed darkly. "Those bastards."

Surprisingly, or not so any more she supposed, it was Dick who asked the million dollar question. "Is that enough to get a search warrant?"

"No. Especially when the only person who can claim Leo actually had it on him that night is an ex-con who is currently doing various undercover jobs for the police. Even if Dad trusts Weevil it won't be enough to convince any judge in this town."

They all sat silently for a moment. Veronica's brain was working furiously. The Fitzpatrick's certainly had the manpower to pull something like this off, and the resources would have been fairly easy to get a hold of, especially as connected as Liam Fitzpatrick is. The only missing piece was why. Why would a criminal group who prefers to remain as low profile as possible do something like blow up the Police Station? They might not like the Sheriff and the way he constantly foiled their games, but they couldn't have anything to gain by making him look into them more. Still, maybe Liam just got really upset. He wasn't exactly known for holding his temper.

"Are you going to call your dad?" Mac asked.

She thought about it for a second. "Not yet. He legally can't go after this lead, but I can."

Dick spoke up. "You mean we can. The rest of us aren't going to sit back and let you handle this alone."

For a second Veronica felt a little frustrated with him. She was the one here with the most to get back at these bastards for. Those men, and Inga, they were practically her second family. She'd already lost her mother, Lily, even Duncan in a weird way. She wasn't letting anyone mess with the people she had left and get away with it. But Dick was also friends with some of them. And Mac almost as much time at the station as she did. Even Logan enjoyed hanging out with some of the deputies. They each had their own reasons for going after whoever did this.

"Fine. We can go after this lead."

"Am I interrupting a Brady Bunch moment?" Weevil plopped down next to Veronica. "You gringos really spend too much time here."

Without further discussion he handed her the cell and grabbed a beer. Leo's phone was small, but he obviously took very good care of it. She popped it open and scrolled around. There wasn't likely to be any evidence in the phone itself, and it had been passed around too much to hope for prints. Really the only interesting thing about it was where it was found.

"Who was the biker you got this from?" She said absently as she looked through his inbox. He had a lot of messages from someone named 'M'.

"Some kid named Xavier. A newbie. He was trying to prove how tough he is by going to the Stix."

Veronica opened one of the messages and read it, something about opening a new window. The next message was similar. It was almost like…

"Mac, were you texting Leo the day of the explosion?"

Across from her Mac stiffened. "Yeah. He couldn't work some program. Why?"

"No reason, I was trying to figure out who M was. Now I feel stupid." Wait. This was interesting. Veronica felt herself tense up. There was no way she was going to let Mac see that.

"Veronica?" Mac's voice was small, she knew something was wrong. Before she could do anything to stop it she felt the phone being pulled out of her grasp.

When she looked up Mac was staring down at the phone with tears in her eyes. Dick leaned over and put an arm around her. "Mac, Mackie? What's wrong?"

Neither girl could talk. The message had been saved, but never sent, 20 minutes before the time of the explosion. It had said 'Mac, have something to tell you. Left a present for you at the station, going to grab it then I'll be over.'

Veronica had a feeling that this was going to change everything.

* * *

After he'd read the message Dick had helped her get up carefully, and took her home. She was too much in shock to do anything but let him help her. Leo had written her, he'd gone back to the station to get something for her. He should never have been in the station at the time of the explosion. If it hadn't been for her he wouldn't have been.

The guilt she felt at that moment was stronger then anything she'd ever felt before. Stronger then what she'd felt after Cassidy, then she'd known that the things he'd done weren't her fault. She just hadn't noticed some things. Tears started to fall from her eyes silently, and she couldn't stop them. Dick led her to the couch and sat down with her. Before long she was full-fledged sobbing into his shirt. So many thoughts ran through her head she couldn't even begin to sort through them. But one, one of them stood out. The single, penetrating idea that she was responsible for the death of her friend.

"Shh, Mac. This isn't your fault." She vaguely heard Dick trying to comfort her.

Words wouldn't come out. She wanted to tell Dick that this was her fault. That she should have done…something. First of all she should have taught Leo to use his cell better, that way he could have actually sent the message. Then she could have told him not to bother going back to the station. She could have some how stopped all this from happening.

After a while she felt herself start to drift to sleep. Her mind couldn't handle all the thoughts anymore, and her body was exhausted from crying. Before she drifted off she felt Dick lay her down and put the blanket from the back of the couch over her. Then the blissful nothing of sleep took over.

* * *

In her dream Leo was standing if front of her grinning. The Station was behind him. "Hey Mac guess what? I finally got a laptop. Sacks can't figure out how to set it up either, can you help? Can you help me Mac?"

Mac tried to tell him that she could, but the words wouldn't come out. All she could do was stand there, choked up. She desperately tried to reach out to him.

"It's okay Mac, don't worry about anything. I'm just dead. Honestly, you think any of us are going to be here forever? Just tell everyone I miss them. And don't spend all day on your computer. It's bad for the brain."

With that he laughed and before she could stop him he walked into the station, and she didn't even have time to move before it blew up.

She woke up in a cold sweat to find herself tucked under her blanket on the couch. Dick wasn't anywhere she could see. Bleary eyed she looked at the clock on the wall. It was just after midnight, she'd slept all day. Slowly she stood up and walked to the kitchen. On the table was a note, obviously from Dick, that said he was at his place to grab some clothes, but he would be back soon. He'd left it in case she woke up, more then likely he'd be back soon. It only took her a second of thought before she grabbed her keys off the counter and went out to her car.

While in the car her brain was still working on overdrive. All the thoughts of guilt, fear, and sadness were so welled up that she didn't know how to distinguish between any of them. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to make this right. Somehow she had to make up for the fact that it was her fault Leo died. When she arrived at her destination she yanked the door open purposely and went to the door. It took Veronica a second to answer after she rang.

"Mac?" The other girl blinked at her for a second. "Are you okay?"

"No." She answered honestly. "I'm not. I just came to tell you that this case is mine. I'm going to find the fuckers who did this."

And when she did, they were going to wish they'd never been born.

* * *

There it is! I apologize for how dark the second half of the chapter was, but I had to set up the fact that Mac is going to start taking the lead in this. And don't worry, this is definitely MaDi, Leo and Mac were just friends. For the record, Mac will be a lot different in this fic then she is in the series, so sorry to any one who doesn't like that. Not only is she older, but she thinks she is responsible for someone dying. The change won't be as drastic as Veronica's after Lily's death, not at all, but it will definitely be there. Also, sorry for the lack of MaDi or LoVe in this chapter, that's going to start showing up soon!! Remember - reviews rock my world!!


	4. Rooftops and Invitations

And here, ladies and gentlemen is the promised next chapter. Btw, this is dedicated to Broodyleytons who kept me writing both through her awesome comments and amazing stories. If you have some time go check out her story 'A New kind of Love Story'. Seriously good stuff. Just don't forget to read this one as well!!

Disclaimer - All characters and places belong to the amazingly cool people who came up with Veronica Mars and made all of our lives a little more interesting.

* * *

Two weeks. That was the running count in Dick's head. The count of how long it had been since Mac had been normal. He'd seen many different sides to her over the years. He'd seen her in her weakest moments and her proudest ones, but he'd never seen her like this. She was completely and totally focused on the case, obsessed even. All she did all day was sit at her laptop and go over notes, or when she ventured out it was to check out leads. Not even Veronica could get her to take a break.

Much to his disdain Veronica had taught Mac how to use all the surveillance equipment, and given her tips on stakeouts and questioning suspects. Her excuse was that she understood how Mac felt, and the only way to get their friend back to normal was to let her deal with this. But she wasn't Veronica, she hadn't been doing this for years. If you asked Dick it wasn't safe for her to be out there trying to figure out who'd blown up a fucking police station! He was constantly worried about her, even now when he was supposed to be paying attention to what his companies' financial advisor was saying. The man had been going on about a deal with another company for ever, and Dick hadn't heard a word of it.

"Mr. Casablancas? Sir?"

The voice startled Dick out of his thoughts. "Yes Rowling?"

"I asked if you would go ahead and approve the deal with Mr. Hodges company."

Dick shook his head in an attempt to snap back into reality. "Right, Hodges company. I thought we decided that his proposal wasn't firm enough."

"He sent a new one."

"Put it on my desk, I'll read it later." Stupid people and their stupid business proposals. Dick's company was the largest investment firm in Neptune, everyone bowed to his hold over the retail market, but that also meant that everyone wanted a piece of it. Hodges was the newest in a long list of people who wanted to buy into his success. That stroked his ego more then a little, but at the moment he was too worried about Mac to care.

Thank God it was nearing five o'clock, and soon he'd be able to head over to Mac's house and check up on her. He didn't know how Logan survived feeling like this all the time. Dick was a very traditional guy, in his mind the men were supposed to do the dangerous stuff and protect the women. Not the other way around. The memory of when he'd suggested that to Mac ran through his mind, making him shiver. There was no way he was going to bring that up again.

He gathered his things quickly after Rowling left, and headed out to his car. This whole 9 to 5 job thing wasn't anything like what he expected to be doing with the rest of his life, but he was good at it and it was productive. Plus, Mac always told him how proud of him she was whenever he made a particularly good deal, and that made all the hard work worthwhile. Even if he did have to where a suit all day. Though he had to admit, he looked good.

When he arrived at Mac's apartment he let himself in. She was sitting at the kitchen table in front of her laptop, typing furiously. The bags under her eyes had grown, and from the looks of it she was in the same set of sweatpants and t-shirt as she'd been in yesterday. No new leads then. Looking at her broke his heart a little. He'd promised himself back when they first became friends, after dealing with all the broken pieces Cassidy had left them, that he'd never let her be hurt like this again. His fist started to curl. When he found whoever made his Mac feel this way he was going to…wait. His Mac? When did he started thinking of her that way?

But if he was perfectly honest with himself he knew that he'd been thinking of her that way for a long time, even years. Starting back when they helped heal each other, and then when they became best friends, up to when they started becoming each other's dates for everything. All of that lead up to the realization he was having right now, that he felt something more then just friendship for his best friend. The realization made him pause and take a deep breath. Great, that wasn't going to make things any easier. In some ways though, the realization made him feel like the he was on top of the world. He was in love, or something like it, with Cindy Mackenzie, the smartest, most beautiful, funniest, and kindest girl in the entire world. Figures it would take all this shit happening to make him realize it.

"Are you going to stand there all day?"

Trying not to smile too broadly Dick walked over to her. He wouldn't bring any of this up now, not when she was so focused on the case. But someday he would. And when he did he hoped to dear God she felt the same way. Until then he had to be subtle. Not exactly his strong suit. "What can I say, your computer skills always mesmerize me."

No reaction. She merely gestured to the screen where she was typing things under the Fitzpatrick's name in the case file. "We have a whole lot of evidence showing that they could have done it, but nothing suggesting that they actually did. Or why."

"The why is easy," Dick said sitting in the chair next to her, his hand tingling with the urge to touch her shoulder. He'd done it all the time before, why not now? Because now it meant something completely different. So he shoved his hands into his suit pockets. "They were getting tired of Sheriff Mars being on their case all the time. What better way to get back at him then by blowing up his base of operations."

"That doesn't make any long term since though. Why make the sheriff more focused on you just to get a little revenge?"

Dick shrugged. "Maybe they didn't think about it that way. Maybe they just got really angry and did it before anyone could point out what a stupid idea it was. I mean, what other suspects do we have?"

"Well, not only do we have a large criminal underbelly in Neptune that all hate the Sheriff's department, but Sheriff Mars has a long list of personal enemies he's managed to accumulate over the years."

They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Dick was weighing his options. He could, A, continue discussing the case with her for a while, in which time he would have to continually realize that his new realization made things a little more uncomfortable, and then order then both some takeout and attempt to get her to play halo. Or B, drag her outside to the beach or a food place of some sort right now, where he could distract himself from the fluttering in his stomach. Patience had never been his strong suit.

"Enough thinking for today Sherlock. Jump in the shower then get dressed, we're going out."

Mac stared at him like he was insane. Even that stare brought a smile to his face. God, was she beautiful. And God he hadn't even come to terms with the fact that he was in love with his best friend and he already couldn't control himself. "I have work to do Dick."

"No, you have work you think you have to do." He reached over and tugged her out of the chair, the simple touch of her hands in his making his heart pound harder. He swallowed nervously. "What you really have to do is stop being a recluse and get out into the real world for one afternoon."

The softening of her eyes told him she was going to concede any second now. All that was left to convince her was his patented puppy dog expression. "Please?"

She sighed and tugged her hands out of his grasp. "Give me five minutes."

As he watched her walk away he realized that keeping these new found feelings hidden was going to be a hell of a lot harder then he thought. Damn hormones, weren't they supposed to go away when you got out of your teenage years? A little voice in his head laughed at him as he tried to get a hold of himself. _And you thought this was going to be easy…_

So much for that idea.

* * *

All it took was a look in the mirror to convince Mac that maybe Dick's idea of a shower was a good idea. She looked terrible. Not only were there bags under her eyes, but her hair was a birds nest. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. Which was true. Every time she closed her eyes Leo was there. Never blaming her, never intentionally making her feel guilty, but that's how she felt when she woke up, startled and crying, from the insistent nightmares.

That's why she hadn't stopped working on the case for the last two weeks. Her actual work was falling behind, and she had the feeling she would be getting a call from one of the companies she was working for any day now, telling her she'd lost the job. Despite that she couldn't bring herself to care about anything other then finding who blew up the station. Nigh and day she sat in front of her laptop, or in her car in front of the River Stix, or watching surveillance from the camera she'd managed to sneak inside the bar. And yet there was nothing.

She knew that Dick was worried about her. The look in his eyes every time he looked her way broke her heart a little bit. She didn't want to make him worried, or cause him any sort of pain at all. But he had to understand that she had to solve this case. Nothing else mattered, not even the way her heart jumped every time he came into the room. Like today, when he spent a good five minutes staring at her. She wished that she could understand what that look meant, because in her heart she wanted to think that it meant he felt some semblance of what she felt for her. Her brain on the other hand, was telling her that there was no way, and that she should concentrate on what she could control. So she listened to her brain.

The shower did her some good, and when she was finished tugging a brush through her hair and putting clean clothes on she felt a million times better. A look in the mirror confirmed it. She no longer looked like the living dead.

"Almost ready?" Dick was leaning against her doorframe, smiling crookedly at her. That smile always took her breath away. The man really didn't realize how incredible he looked in a suit, his hair now short because that was more 'business-like'. It reminded her of why they would never work. A guy that handsome deserved to be with a girl that turned heads for more then the fact that her hair had some purple in it.

"I guess so."

He led her outside and to his car, a small black one that he drove to work because it was more professional then his bright green jeep. Still, it had the Dick tough with a sticker on the inside glove compartment that said 'Look inside for emergency condoms'. His sense of humor still confused her.

"Where are we going?" She realized he'd never mentioned that part.

"I figured we could stop by and pick Logan and Ronnie up and then head over to Java Hutt, we haven't all spent time together in a while."

Mac smiled softly at the gentle reproach in his tone. He was reminding her why they hadn't all hung out in a while, and the reminder was well deserved. The case had consumed her so completely that she'd even let her friendships suffer because of it. But that didn't mean she was going to back off at all, only that she had to set aside some time to spend with the others. Dick could always be counted on to get her back on track when she was doing something stupid.

The silence between them as they drove to the Hutt was a different kind of silence then they'd ever had. Mac was biting her tongue, attempting to keep herself from alerting Dick to the new range of feelings she was experiencing. Like the way her hand felt like it was on fire after he touched it in reassurance. Or how much she wanted to reach over and sweep the stray bangs off his forehead. She kept her eyes on the road in front of them though, only watching him through the corner of her eyes. The air around them was thick. She'd spent more hours in this car with him then she could count, why was she feeling this way now? Why was it just now that she wanted to lean over and kiss that serious look off his face?

She gripped her purse tightly and took a deep breath. She could do this, it was Dick for goodness sakes. Though the problem really was that he was Dick, no other guy could inspire this sort of reaction in her. He was just so perfect sitting there right beside her. Like an angel. She thought back to the time they'd spent together the summer after their freshman year at Hearst, when they'd both finally dealt with Cassidy's death. She dozed off out of exhaustion right before her strongest memory of that time took over.

* * *

It had been a hot summer night when they'd finally figured out that they needed each other's help to get through everything. Mac was sitting on the roof at the Grand when she came to that realization. She came there sometimes to think. To remember. She thought about the person Cassidy had been, the person he really never was. If she was honest with herself the thing that hurt her the most was the fact that she'd apparently never truly known the real Cassidy. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks like they always did when she remembered. When she heard footsteps on the roof behind her she wiped them off furiously, expecting them to belong to Veronica, who always came to check on her when she was like this.

Instead they belonged to Dick Casablancas, who back then was still about 75 asshole. Spending time with his Dad was beginning to straighten him out though. He told Mac later that it was because he was trying to become anyone but his Father. He had looked so torn apart that night dressed in a raggedy old sweatshirt and jeans and looking like he hadn't slept in days. Silently he'd sat down beside Mac on the roof and tucked his knees up to his chest.

"I come here a lot you know." His voice was much softer then she'd ever heard it.

"Me too." She'd admitted, pulling her knees up as well. They sat there like that for a while, each floating in their own thoughts and memories.

It was Dick who had spoken first. "You know, he was happier when he was with you then anytime I'd ever seen him."

Mac didn't know what to say to that, so she kept quiet. After a moment he continued. "When we were really little, before that bastard did whatever he did to him, he was a lot louder. He even fought back against me a lot. When he stopped I didn't think anything of it, I just figured he'd finally given up and admitted I was better. Our father told me that he was suppose to respond that way. He told me to keep letting Cassidy know I was superior. 'It's the only way to get ahead in life' he told me."

His face was filled with more pain at that moment then anyone she'd ever seen in her entire life. Before she even knew what she was doing she closed in the distance between them and put a hand softly on his back. For a few seconds they just sat there like that, she slowly drew circles on his back and he closed his eyes and swallowed in an attempt not to cry.

"But then you came along, and he started becoming the Cassidy I remembered again. I think if it wasn't for everything with that bastard Woody, and how screwed up he got after that, I think he could have really loved you."

"Don't say that," Mac's throat closed up and she felt the tears build, "I don't want to think of it like that. I should have seen it all when we were together, I should have fixed it somehow. It shouldn't have to be like this, me wondering whether or not he could have loved me. I should have fixed things so he would have."

It was Dick's turn to comfort her. "If anyone's to blame it's me. I constantly tore him down, I didn't help protect him from anything, I just ripped into him time after time again."

"He respected you for that." Mac looked Dick in the eyes for the first time. "He told me that he wished he was more creative so he could come up with things to make fun of you about."

That made Dick smile, "Oh, he could be pretty creative when he wanted to."

It was then that she made the promise to keep that smile on Dick's face. It was that moment that sent them down the path they were still on right now. But as she watched her dream-self lean to rest her head on Dick's shoulder the scene changed. The Grand became the Police Station, and Dick became Leo. He smiled at me.

"Not everything can be as perfect as that Mac. If you want something, go after it. You never know how much time you have left."

And then for the millionth time Mac watched him die.

* * *

She woke up to Dick shaking her. He was looking at her with concern, and she realized that there were tears on her cheeks. Hastily she reached up to wipe them off. She didn't want him to worry about her. Before she'd finished though he reached out to stop her hands, and finished wiping the tears away himself. She felt her heart pause, and her breathing became shallow as she looked him in the eyes. There was something there, something that made her heart start beating sporadically. Their faces were so close, just inches apart. It would be easy for her to tilt her face up just a little and catch his mouth in a kiss. But she was frozen, even as he leaned in to close the distance between them. Up until the point when his lips caught hers in the softest, most sensual kiss she'd ever received.

Then she reached up behind his head and pulled him towards her, ignoring the thousand thoughts in her head that were telling her this was a bad idea, and instead concentrating on the orchestra and fireworks that were confirming her current belief that this was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She gasped when his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and her arms tangled into his hair as his reached around to pull her closer. She'd never felt this…_alive_.

She didn't know how long it was before they broke apart, both breathing heavily and staring at each other in wonder. She cleared her throat. "I…wow."

The only answer she received was a grin before he yanked her back in again, only to be interrupted by the docile tones of 'My Humps'. Logan's ring tone, a joke no one but the two of them understood. Dick growled in frustration before answering it.

"What?!"

As he proceeded to talk briskly with Logan, something about Logan running late, Mac took the opportunity to straighten herself out. Though that was her new favorite way to be woken up she still needed time to process everything. She had just been kissed by Dick Casablancas. Her best friend and the brother of the guy who'd previously gotten closest to her heart. And now all she wanted to do was rip the phone out of his hand, break it in some creative way, and get back to kissing him. Taking a shaky breath she fought down that urge and attempted to get back to rational thinking. She knew she loved him, so kissing him was a logical next step. Except she still didn't know how he felt.

"Okay, see you in five." Dick shut his phone closed and looked at her. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

Mac nodded. Words weren't exactly proving to be her strong suit at the moment. Beside her Dick cleared his throat uncomfortably. The silence stretched to the point of being awkward before Mac took a deep breath and turned to him, determined to clear things up. At the same time Dick turned towards her and they both started to speak.

"Look.." She started just as Dick said the same thing. They both laughed, clearing the air a bit. She held up a hand for him to let her go first. "First of all, that was amazing."

Dick grinned cockily. "Of course."

"But," She said, rolling her eyes at him. "This is me. I can't just let a kiss be a kiss. I have to know what it means."

"I know." They knew each other's personalities well enough at this point for him to know that she needed answers, and for her to know that he probably didn't have many. So his next comment surprised her. "Would it answer your question if I told you it means everything?"

Without her mind telling it to, her body leaned forwards toward him. "I suppose it would if I knew what everything meant."

His voice softened along with hers as he leaned forward too, "It means that I've wanted to do that for a long time, even though I just figured out that I wanted to. It means that I want to be able to do it in the future. It means…it means that I want it to mean everything to you as well."

She'd never seen emotions as strong as those that were reflected in his eyes. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It meant everything to me too."

This time she was the one to start the kiss, and the one to deepen it. He moaned against her mouth as she ran her hands down his chest. Though this was only the second kiss they'd shared it felt like they'd been doing this for all of eternity. She loved the taste of mint gum and coffee that lingered on her lips even after they'd pulled apart. He leaned his forehead against hers for a long second, before another cell phone ring interrupted them. This time it was hers, letting her know that Veronica wanted to talk to her. As much as she didn't want to pull apart from him, in the back of her mind she knew it could be about the case, so she groaned and answered it.

"Yeah?"

"_Hey Mac. I've got some interesting dialogue here from the Fitzpatricks. I'm guessing you'll want to hear it."_

That made Mac sit up straight. "Where are you?"

"_My apartment. I was about to leave for the Hutt when it came through. Can you get here?"_

"Be there in ten." Mac shut off her phone and turned to Dick. "We have to get to V's. She has a lead."

He nodded, but before he put the car in gear he turned to look at her. "We'll talk about this later?"

The corners of her mouth tilted up as she reached over and squeezed his hand in assurance. They would most certainly _talk _later. Right after they figured out whether this lead would help them figure out who turned all their lives upside down.

* * *

So there you go. Sorry to leave it off at a sort-of cliff hanger. I promise to update asap! And so begins the MaDi relationship. I was a bit nervous writing that part, so let me know what you think! I apologize for the lack of LoVe, or any Veronica or Logan for that matter, but they'll be back next time. Along with a character we haven't seen yet, but all love. Stay tuned, and remember that there's a little button right below this that you can press to make my day a million times better!

* * *


	5. Little Bombs

hey guys, sorry it took me so incredibly long to get this chapter out. The first semester of college kind of took over my life. I hope you guys enjoy this!! Don't forget, reviews are a writer's crack!!

And as always I own nothing...it's depressing.

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The ride to Veronica's apartment was quick, but tense. Dick shot a look over at Mac. Her face was tight with stress and curiosity. He knew she was busy going through what she knew about the case, desperately trying to figure out what had been said that would catch Veronica's interest. She was back to the determined Mac she'd been the last few weeks. Dick sighed, he'd just kissed the girl of his dreams and now they were back to trying to catch bad guys. Hopefully their lives wouldn't always be like this.

Thinking of kissing Mac made him grin. He'd imagined kissing the small dark-haired girl beside him many times since they became friends. He couldn't help it, he was a guy. Actually doing it , however, was even more amazing. And terrifying. And mind-blowing. It wasn't even completely the physical aspect of kissing her, it was the knowledge that she'd kissed him back, which meant that she must feel something like what he felt. He fought the urge to punch his fist in the air like he would have when he was younger. Mac might not appreciate that.

He turned his attention back to his best friend when they reached Veronica's apartment and Mars Investigations. "Mac. We're here." The look of concentration on her face was adorable, but it scared him. He was afraid he might lose his Mac, the one he just kissed, to the completely obsessed Mac that did nothing but concentrate on the case. He didn't think he could deal with that after just taking the leap.

Something in her smile reassured him though, and she reached over and squeezed his hand. "Let's see what Veronica has for us."

They walked quickly up the stairs and knocked on Veronica's door. She opened it with a serious look on her face. "Come on in guys. Logan's on his way."

Veronica's laptop was sitting out on the table. Mac walked over to it and sat down, obviously eager to hear the recording.

"Go ahead and listen." the blond PI told her.

Unwilling to let her get whisked away into the mystery without him, Dick crossed over and leaned on the table behind her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She didn't have to go through this alone. She nodded at him with a smile and turned on the recording.

"Who's up for a game of pool?" The loud voice was unrecognizable.

"Liam." A quiet voice closer to the bug came through.

"I managed to isolate these voices." Veronica explained.

The next voice was obviously Liam Fitzpatrick's. "What?"

"We just got a call from the dealer. He says the payment is late."

"Late? I sent it over with Danny an hour ago." He was angry.

"Don't look at me. You're the one who decided to buy weapons from a crazy rich guy."

The next thing that came over the recording was a loud thump, and a yell of surprise. Liam seemed to have tired of that conversation. Veronica turned the bug off.

Beside him Mac was tensed up. The Fitzpatrick's were purchasing weapons from some arms dealer. That didn't prove they blew up the station, but suddenly it made it much more likely. What they needed now was to figure out what kind of weapons they bought and when. Damn, Dick thought. He'd been hanging around with Ronnie too often, he was starting to think like her.

"How are we going to figure out what they purchased?" Mac's voice surprised him. It was perfectly calm and controlled.

Veronica sat down in the chair across from her and thought about that for a second. "The first thing we're going to do is turn this recording over to my father. He's working with the sheriff's department in the next county to figure out who did this. They have more resources then we do."

At that moment Logan opened the door and walked in. He nodded at Dick and Mac before walking up to Veronica. "What did you find?"

They listened through the recording again. This time Dick watched Mac's face the entire time. It was a mask of pure concentration, but when Liam mentioned the weapons a darkness swept over her eyes. He knew that look. Years ago she used to get it whenever Cassidy was mentioned. Feeling a protective surge for his best friend he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully. The action wasn't any different this time then the millions of times they'd done it over the years, but at the same time it was. This time both of them knew that the offer of comfort was more then one best friend to another. She looked up at him intensely, and his heart stopped a little.

Suddenly Logan stood up. "Good then. We'll drop that off by Sheriff Mar's place on the way to the Hutt."

Three pairs of eyes stared at him. His dismissal of the tape shocked all of them. Dick was the first to recover. "That sounds like a good plan. You want to drive all in one car, save on gas? I can drop you guys back by here when we're done."

"Sounds good. Ready to go Veronica? Mac?"

The two women were staring at them like they were insane. "We just found a recording saying that the Fitzpatrick's probably bought illegal weapons recently and you want to go get coffee?" Mac asked incredulously.

Logan just smiled at her. "Veronica said that you guys were going to give the tape to her Dad, and all of us need a break. We're just as capable of discussing it in the car on the way there as we are discussing it right here in Veronica's kitchen."

"He has a point." The shorter, blonder of the two females conceded. "Come on Mac, I know how much you love the coffee cake there."

For a second Dick thought she would argue the point further, or just plain refuse to go, but after a moment she just shook her head and stood up. When she passed Dick she smiled up at him to show she was alright. He grinned down at her and reached a hand up to wipe the hair out of her eyes and then paused. He didn't know where they were right now, and what he was allowed to do. Not knowing things scared him. Life was much easier when he knew exactly where things stood. If she noticed his hesitation she didn't acknowledge it. After a slight pause both of them followed Veronica and Logan outside.

____________________________________________________________________________

Most nights the Hutt was fairly crowded, whether it was with people doing Karaoke, or just the normal coffee crowd. That night however, it was on the empty side. Logan and Dick went to find them a table as Veronica and Mac went to the restroom. Usually they avoided the stereotypical female bathroom gatherings, but something on Mac's face had obviously clued Veronica in that something had changed. And as everyone knew, resistance was futile with Veronica Mars.

"So." Veronica started as the stood in front of the oversized mirrors that public restrooms always had. "What's new with you?"

Mac took the bait, "Will I've become a recluse, probably lost most of my current clients, and made out with my best friend, who I think I may be in love with."

"Well, that happens to me at least once a week." Veronica snarked.

"Yeah. It's really no big deal."

"Except that it is."

"Except that it may change the course of our existence." Mac conceded. "And I feel stupid, because I should feel concerned about the case, and the fact that the we have our first big lead. Instead I'm so worried about what to do about Dick. I'm such a girl."

Veronica shrugged her shoulders. "You do have breasts."

Mac pretended to look down in surprise. "Oh, that's what those are?"

Both of them stood in relative silence for a second.

"But you're happy?" Veronica asked.

"More then a little." She couldn't keep the small smile from creeping up on her face.

"All I can say then is took you two long enough. Logan and I had a bet going. I won. He thought it would be at least another year."

Instead of letting anything show on her face Mac merrily smiled at her friend. "Well Dick and I have a bit of a bet going on too. Just hold out on Logan another 2 months and I'll win."

She left Veronica behind her chuckling and exited the bathroom to find the guys. They were sitting in a corner both. From the look on Dick's face her expression was bordering on scary. "you're dead later." She told Logan

He was unfazed. "I see Veronica told you about our bet."

"Of course. Ask her about ours."

Internally she laughed at the look on his face. Score one for Mac. Beside his friend, Dick was trying to hold in his laughter, his dancing eyes staring up at her. She felt her heart jump a little. God, it was amazing how he had the ability to do that to her. She smiled at him. They really needed to talk about everything later. She had questions, and she knew he did too.

"So, I'm thinking a nice slice of coffee cake. Chocolate Avalanche Dick?" She asked as she sat down, pretending nothing happened.

"You know me too well."

The waiter came by and took their orders, leaving the four friends to the rather uncomfortable silence that followed. Because of Dick and Logan's continuous discussion of everything other then the case they'd managed to avoid the apocalyptic discussion so far. Though Mac was slightly frustrated by that she also saw why they did it. No matter how much they discussed what they heard on the tapes it wasn't going to change anything, the more effective option would be to wait until Sheriff Mars got back to them with results. Or if he didn't tell them and Veronica accidentally 'stumbled' onto them.

Dick was the first to start normal conversation. "So I had this really funny meeting at work last week."

"Overly annoying business man or stupid associate?" Logan quipped.

"Actually it was this really rich chick who thought she could run a business. She kind of reminded me of Kendal in a way."

Veronica's eyes narrowed. Five years and she still was slightly jealous of the older woman. "So her brain size was not in proportional with her bra size?"

"Exactly. The funniest thing was that she wouldn't listen to anything I said. She didn't seem to understand that fact that I'm not going to invest in a company that I don't think is well run."

"Someone didn't listen to you Dick? That's a shock." He glared at Veronica, who kept an innocent look on her face.

"Fine then oh so sarcastic one. How's business over at Tiny Nosy Blonde Girl Inc?"

A thoughtful look fell over Veronica's face. "Not so great actually. You think it would speed up with the Sheriff's office out of commission for the time being, but it's like there's actually been a lull."

"It could be that people are afraid." Mac pointed out.

"It could be. But why would they be afraid to look into their husband or wife's affairs? That's usually the kind of business I pick up. It's doubtful they would stop looking into that because of the station. More then likely it's just one of those rare instances where people are being less suspicious then normal."

The waiter came by and dropped of their assortment of food and drinks. For a moment they all munched happily. Mac took a bite of her coffee cake and smiled contently. "I'm convinced that as long as this coffee cake stays this delicious the world is at least a little bit okay."

Logan smiled across the table from her and lifted his drink in salute. "I concur. Here's to good cake."

Beside him Dick lifted his. "And good drinks!"

They all laughed and tapped mugs softly. Mac smiled at Logan across the table. She'd always liked him, he was thoughtful and protective, and incredibly funny. Over the past few years she'd seen him grow from the passionate young man he'd been, who constantly got into fights over Veronica, to a successful, grounded man. Not only did he run his own non-profit organization, but he was working on a master's degree in social work. He was everything those close to him knew he could be, and he was amazing friend.

"Whatever happened with the whole Madison thing Veronica?" Dick asked after a second.

"Got the money shot. Her and Hodges going hot and heavy. Disgusting, but revenge is always a good feeling." Veronica's grin was feral, and incredibly scary.

"I shudder to think what it would be like for you to release all the anger holed up in that tiny body of yours." Logan said, and Mac agreed. That would be a scary sight.

Dick nodded furiously. "The world would explode."

"Or at least burst into flames. An explosion is too quick." Mac nodded.

"Personally," Logan interjected, "I think she'd just start picking off those people she hates. It's a long list, that would keep her occupied for a while."

"I am here you know?" Veronica stated, amused.

"We know. That's why we're talking about you as if you aren't. Much more interesting that way."

Veronica glared at her best female friend and lifted her glass. "I would watch out if you want to avoid being on that list of people I hate."

Mac just grinned. "How'd you deal with Madison anyways?"

"Well," if it was possible Veronica's look got even more disturbing. "I might have not only given a copy of the picture to Mrs. Hodges, but 'accidentally' dropped one in front of Madison's boyfriend's house. And then left another copy with Hodges' secretary, saying it was from Madison as a little 'incentive to continue their relationship'."

The other three stared at her for a second, before Dick started laughing. "Your brain most be a really scary place."

"It is. Which is why you shouldn't mess with me."

"Hey," Dick held his hands up in mock surrender. "I learned not to do that a long time ago."

______________________________________________________________________

After a couple of hours of relaxed conversation, Veronica needed to head to a stake out, and since they all had to drive back to her apartment together they decided to call it a night. Mac and Dick said goodbye to Veronica and Logan in the parking lot, and headed towards Mac's place. With the absence of Logan and Veronica, Dick was slowly getting more and more nervous. They hadn't had any time alone since their little kissing adventure. On the seat beside him Mac was staring out of the window in apparent concentration. Why after 3 years of being best friends were things so incredibly awkward now?

He knew the drive to her apartment was only ten minutes, but it felt like an hour. The time stretched on forever. All he could think about was the girl beside him. She was so perfect, and he wanted whatever this was to work. The only thing to do now was talk about it, but he was having an incredibly hard time getting the words out. He parked the car and they went inside, Mac automatically going straight to her laptop and looking at it for any updates. Dick pulled out two cups and poured them each some water. He perched on the edge of the table to watched her.

"This is ridiculous." Mac said suddenly. "We've been friends for 4 years, and I can't remember the last time we had an awkward silence like this."

Dick looked up at her quickly. She was right. "We should probably talk about the, you know."

"Yeah."

He moved around to sit next to her in the chair. "I meant it when I said it meant everything. Mac," He began, turning towards her and locking eyes. "You mean everything to me. You've meant everything since we first really met on the roof of the Grand. You've been my best friend, my protector, my moral compass, my encouragement. You're who I strive to be good enough for. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that you're not only my best friend, but the girl I want to be with."

Her eyes were bright as she stared up at him, and he felt a strange calm come over. It was to soon to tell her that he loved her, but he could let her know that he wanted to be with her. He reached up and touched her cheek lightly. "I think I've been falling for you for a long time."

"Good." Mac said, reaching up to cover his hand with hers. "Because I've been falling for you too."

When he leaned down to capture his lips this time he was vaguely aware of the cheering in the back of his mind. Her lips were pure heaven. She moaned underneath him and reached her arms up to wrap around his neck. Dick had kissed a million girls, but none of them had tasted as good as Mac did at that moment. After a moment the chairs they were sitting in became uncomfortable, soDick reached down and picked her up. He walked to the living room and sat them down on the couch.

"Dick." Mac gasped.

"Hmm?" He was concentrating on running his hands through her soft hair. It was purple this week, and he decided that purple was his new favorite color.

"We're not going to get much talking done if we keep this up." She choked the words out as his lips left her mouth and trailed down her neck.

It took a moment for the words to register, but after they did he pulled himself off of her. Though it took a great deal of effort. "Talk. Right."

"What is this going to mean? You know, for us?"

"I guess that depends on what you want it to mean." He found it was easier to concentrate on talking when he sat up and moved away from her. His mind was running over a million things he wanted to do to her at that particular moment. Images of her in a bikini were making their way mockingly through his mind.

Mac sat crossed legged on the other side of the couch from him. "I mean, are we dating? That just seems a bit weird after being friends for so long."

"Well I'm done with the whole friends with benefits thing. That's just not my MO anymore."

"I know." She reassured him.

"What if we take things slow. I'll take you out properly, and we can see where things go from there. But I'll warn you." His eyes flashed with emotion as he leaned towards her. "If we start this I don't think I'll ever be able to let you go."

Her eyes echoed his. "That's fine by me."

Mac slid over next to him and he wrapped his arm around her as they leaned back. He'd held her like this before. The difference was that now he could say that the women in his arms was his. By this point with any other girl his hand would already be making its way slowly up her shirt and towards the bra, but he hesitated. She was beautiful, and he could feel himself start to react to the desire he felt, but he wanted to do things right with her. He didn't want to rush into things and end up screwing up. So he settled with resting his hand lightly on her hip and drawing circles on the skin there. Mac smiled lazily up at him.

"This should feel weird right?" She asked after a second. "It should feel awkward or something."

"No. The fact that it feels so right means that this is good." Dick said confidently.

Mac leaned up and kissed him softly, taking time to drag her lips slowly from one edge of his lips to the other. He smiled against her. "Not weird at all."

"What do we tell Logan and Veronica?"

"Well," She said with a smile, "I'm sure they'll tell us they saw it coming."

"You're probably right."

_______________________________________________________________________

"I knew you guys would figure it out sooner or later!"

Mac grinned as she heard Veronica's excited squeal through the phone. She sent a thumbs up towards Dick as he walked in. He grinned back, and turned so she could see the phone he was on. They were informing both of their best friends at the same time. Knowing Logan and Veronica that meant they would talk it over and decide how best to spy on them to see how the relationship was progressing. Or at least, Veronica would scheme and Logan would attempt to stop it before following along.

"Yeah, well." Mac said into the phone while walking up to her boyfriend. It felt good to be able to call him that. "What can I say. He's kind of amazing." When Dick's face lit up she winked at him, "If not extremely arrogant. Actually I have no idea why I'm dating him."

"He's there isn't he." Veronica asked dryly. "One day and you guys are already unbearably cute."

Dick closed his phone and wrapped his arms around Mac. Before she could respond to Veronica he took the phone out of her hands and spoke into it. "Hey, I've got to demonstrate to Mac why she's dating me, so we'll talk to you later."

Mac held back a laugh. "You probably just scarred her for life."

"She'll get over it."

He leaned in to kiss her softly. Once his lips left hers he leaned his forehead against her and smiled. "Hey."

"Hey." She answered, her voice coming out in a whisper.

The next time he kissed her it was passionate. His lips devoured hers, making her brain turn to mush. Damn him, she thought, 5 seconds and he managed to render her completely incoherent. A minute later she found she didn't care, and threw her arms around him to pull him closer. She could do this forever. As he ended the kiss she moaned in aversion. God, why did time have to exist?

"Have I reminded you why you keep me around." Dick's eyes danced in amusement.

"I don't know, I think I might need further demonstration."

"Can't keep your self off of me? That happens to all the girls. But if I'm not much mistaken we have somewhere to be."

Mac looked at the clock on her cell phone. He was right, they were supposed to meet Sheriff Mars in 20 minutes. "Fine, but then I expect a illustration later."

He leaned down and kissed her nose. "I think we can squeeze that in. Right between poker with the boys and my daily cigar."

"Well if you smoke your joint while playing poker we could get down to it faster." Mac said, going along with his joke.

"That's bad taste, but I'll see what I can do."

"Okay then pretty boy, let's go." She grabbed his arm and started out the door.

Sheriff Mars was meeting them at Mars Investigations. He'd listened to the tape of Liam Fitzpatrick and had some ideas. At first he'd been furious to hear that they'd been pursuing the case on their own, but with the new shortage in deputies he'd finally agreed that he could use the help. As long as they went to him before taking any actions and didn't do anything stupid. Mac had agreed to the terms easily. She wasn't Veronica. As much as she wanted to be the one to figure out who the bastards were who killed Leo she wasn't the charge in and kick ass kind of person. She would do the behind the scenes work and then let Sheriff Mars bring them in.

They were only a few minutes late by the time they reached the office. Dick still wasn't too happy that Mac was working on the case, and he was obviously upset that Sheriff Mars was condoning it. In typical male fashion he'd insisted on tagging along to meet the Sheriff. She could tell he was still upset as they walked up the stairs. Smiling softly she reached down to grab his hand. This was a new step for them, but after a second he squeezed her hand back and the frustration on his face smoothed out. When they entered the office they heard Sheriff Mars haggard voice greet them. It was a big change from his normally boisterous greeting.

"Mac, Mr. Casablancas." He still refused after all these years to call the younger man Dick.

"Hey Mr. Mars," Mac said back softly, she'd spent a lot of time at the Mars house over the years. "How are you?"

"As well as can be expected after the station blew up under my watch. Luckily for me the mayor decided a special recall election was not necessary. Though I think that's just because no one wanted to run."

Dick grinned. "Missing Lamb now?"

The glare he received was well deserved. "Not so much. Anyways, let's step into my office and go over what we know. You brought your case file?" This question was directed at Mac.

"Of course." They walked into the office. On his desk, Mr. Mars had a large box full of files. Mac shook her head as she looked at them. "After all that time I took to give you more hard drive space on your computer and you still keep these paper files?"

"You never know when you need a back up. These are the only case files that escaped the explosion. That means thousands of closed and open case files were destroyed."

"That could have been a motive." Dick said thoughtfully. "Someone may have wanted to destroy the files. Or get rid of evidence."

The Sheriff nodded. "We've thought of that, and it's a definite possibility. It also gives the Fitzpatrick's a motive. There was a rather extensive amount of open case files we were trying to connect back to them."

"But why now?" Mac asked. "Why would they all of a sudden decide to destroy the files? And why use such an attention grabbing method as an explosion?"

"Those are the questions we need to answer. And we need to keep an open mind. Just because the Fitzpatrick's had the ability to pull this off doesn't mean they did. I've found over the years the answer is usually the least obvious one."

Mac set her laptop on the desk and opened her case file. In it were all the people connected to the Sheriff Station, and all possible suspects that they'd thought of. The largest section was the Fitzpatricks, with the newest addition being the sound bite from Liam Fitzpatrick. She also had a folder with a list of all known Fitzpatricks, and frequent customers in the River Stix, plus alibis. Her research was extensive, and Sheriff Mars seemed impressed by it.

"I wish some of my deputies were this thorough."

She took the compliment with a nod. "I want to catch whoever did this."

"You were close with Leo D'Amato weren't you?"

"Yes." Mac said, her eyes hardening. "I helped him out with anything that involved technology. He was really bad at it."

Beside her Dick began to stiffen. She knew that he was jealous at her connection with the now deceased deputy, and the amount of fervor his death inspired in her to catch the person behind this. Reaching towards him she ran her hand down his arm and grabbed his hand again. She wanted to let him know that he had nothing to worry about. Leo was her friend, nothing more. They had this bickering, sibling type relationship.

"That's why you want to catch whoever did this." Though it was phrased as a question, Mac knew it wasn't.

"The reason I want to catch whoever did this is because they killed people who are, were, important to me and the people I love."

"That's a good enough reason for me. Now our next step is going to be to figure out who the Fitzpatrick bought weapons from and how much. Keep listening in for clues, and get Veronica to talk to Weevil."

Mac nodded, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders now that she had a specific job to do. She wasn't an organizer like Veronica was; she did best when she knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing. "Sounds good. I'll work on it."

Beside her Dick frowned, but then squeezed her hand and smiled. "Mac doesn't do anything without me. I'll do the footwork."

Her heart leaped. As much as she hated to admit it, his involvement meant a lot to her. "I'll call you as soon as we know anything."

Sheriff Mars let them out, and as she walked to the car hand in hand with Dick she had two feelings. One was that she never wanted to let go of the man next to her. And the other was that they were closer and closer to figuring this thing out. But when the exited the building and stepped outside they saw their car blown up and flaming, a clear sign that they should stay away from whatever they were about to learn. Which only made Mac want to figure it out m


End file.
